Category Archives: Literature & Fiction
Crime
Author: Irvine Welsh
After a mental breakdown due to a child murder case he investigated, and still recovering from drug abuse, D.I. Ray Lennox (Filth) goes on holidays to Miami, Florida with his fiancée Trudi, whose only idea is planning their wedding.
While there, they have a fight which ends up with Ray going with two women he met in a bar to their apartment to have some cocaine. Things go wild and Ray is now responsible for Tianna, a 10 year old girl and daughter of one of the women.
Haunted by the memories and ghosts from his recent case back in Edinburgh, Ray’s only quest now is to protect Tianna from a paedophile network.
The book is good and easy to read, but I didn’t get attached to it as with the other Irvine Welsh’s books. I don’t think there is enough depth on the story and the characters, and although the usual combination of drugs-sex-booze-violence, typical from the author, is there, it felt quite a different writing style – which is not my favorite. I love Welsh’s old and usual way of writing.
Buy Crime from: The Book Depository or Amazon.
The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
Author: Kim Edwards
1964 – During a snowy night in Kentucky, Dr. David Henry has to make the delivery of his and his wife Norah’s own and first child, helped only by a nurse called Caroline. A perfect boy named Paul is born – and that’s when he realizes there is another baby coming – a girl with Down Syndrome. Worried about her health and the impact on Norah’s life, he asks Caroline to put the baby girl in an institution, and tells his wife the girl was stillborn. Caroline, seeing the precarious conditions of the institution, decides to take care of the baby, and names her Phoebe.
The Angel’s Game
Author: Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Using the same universe of The Shadow of the Wind, The Angel’s Game takes us to Barcelona in the 1920’s. Although it is not a proper prequel, because the story is very different and has no connection to that of the first book, we again see the Cemetery of the Forgotten Books and the Sempere & Sons Bookshop.
This time, David Martin, a young writer disappointed with his love and professional life, accepts the offer of a mysterious editor to write a book that could “change the world” – but not for a cheap price.
The Book Thief
Author: Markus Zusak
Set in Germany during World War II, this could be another book amongst millions that explore the war period with a dramatic story on top. Huge mistake. The Book Thief is simply a masterpiece and should be in the bookshelves of every person in the world. So what makes it so special?
The Shadow of the Wind
Author: Carlos Ruiz Zafón
I’m not someone who sheds tears for a book, at least not very easily, and only a few books have made me cry – The Shadow of the Wind is one of them.
Daniel Sempere is taken by his father to a secret place called Cemetery of Forgotten Books, a library full of old and rare titles, where he must choose a book (or perhaps be chosen by one), and take care and protect it for the rest of his life. He picks up “The Shadow of the Wind”, written by Julián Carax.
Filth
Author: Irvine Welsh
Filth is, by far, my favorite Irvine Welsh’s novel. It is hilarious, depressive, revolting and disgusting, but a page-turner all the same.
Detective-Sargeant Bruce Robertson is a corrupt and sociopath “polis”, cocaine addicted, who hates everyone and plays these foul games of his with people (especially his workmates) to see them disgraced and out of his way – “how does it make you feel?” is a common question is his mind.
He is designated to investigate and solve the murder of a young black guy, which, by the way, happens in the prologue but doesn’t develop too much along the book, as the main plot is about Bruce and his sick behavior.
Marabou Stork Nightmares
Author: Irvine Welsh
Roy Strang has been in coma for a couple of years now, and he will tell us the story in two main plots: the hunt of the predator-scavenger bird Marabou Stork in South Africa, a completely fictional tale he created in his mind to apparently go deeper into his refuge from the outside and real world; and the true story of his life, growing up in a public housing project in Edinburgh, then moving to South Africa for 18 months, and back to Scotland, all punctuated by a problematic family, abuse, bullying and violence – the two plots connected, or maybe “interrupted”, by his sense of the people in the hospital: the nurses and doctors who take care of him and his family, who often comes visiting.
Never Let Me Go
Author: Kazuo Ishiguro
Kathy is the narrator of the book. In her early 30′s, she starts telling us the story of her childhood in a boarding school called Hailsham, in England. She introduces us to Tommy, a troubled but sweet boy who suffers bullying and for whom she develops strong feelings; and Ruth, a very outgoing girl with a strong character who becomes her very good friend (and Tommy’s girlfriend). At first, you may not know what they are or why they are there – isolated from the world – but even the students themselves don’t really know it, which will be revealed very soon.
Mornings in Jenin
Author: Susan Abulhawa
In 1948, the Abulheja family is forced to leave their homeland in Palestine due to an Israeli invasion – they settle in a refugee camp in Jenin, where the protagonist of the book is born and will tell us the story of four generations of her family, desolated by war, death, losses, but also love and hope.
A Secret Kept
Author: Tatiana de Rosnay
I bought this book wishing that it would be as great as Sarah’s Key, but I was disappointed.
As a birthday present, Antoine takes his sister Melanie for a weekend in Noirmoutier Island, the place they used to spend the summer holidays in their childhood and had never returned as grown ups. The weekend brings lots of memories, especially of their mother, who died soon after their last holiday there.
Driving back to Paris, Melanie suddenly remembers something that has been tormenting her the whole time at the Island, and she ends up crashing the car and suffering serious injuries – while Antoine gets only some minor scratches – and when she wakes up in the hospital, she cannot remember what it was, leaving Antoine more intrigued.
